I've mentioned before that i had an extraordinarily awful January. Between the post-holiday blues (sadness), a catastrophic set of circumstances at work (stress and anxiety), my friend-divorce (outrage), and feeling disgusting and listless from being at my all-time highest weight (self-loathing), I'm still not really sure how I was able to drag myself out of bed every morning. I really started going out of my mind.
It was during this horrible month that I started bonding with Jiminy (my VivoFit).
On a whim, I bought a deeply discounted VivoFit from Best Buy in an after-Christmas sale. At first, I just wanted to get an idea of what baseline exercise I was getting by walking to and from the metro and walking around my office during the day. Soon after, I started using it for the polite little red arrow that reminds the wearer to move that booty every couple of hours. It provided me a good reason to get up and walk away from my desk pretty regularly throughout the day, which was time I could use to be alone at work and clear my head. I started calling these little excursions my sanity laps. My co-workers started recognizing when I was taking a sanity lap; they'd wave as I went by, some even wishing me a good sanity lap. Before long, the moniker -- and the practice -- started catching on around my office. I still see a few people on their own sanity laps as they walk past my office during the work day.
Sanity laps turned into an effort to meet the steps goals that Jiminy set for me every day. It began with around 3 miles per day, which I was getting through regular activity. Eventually, it became a higher number than I could get just through commuting and taking sanity laps at the office, and it became necessary for me to start using that gym membership I'd been paying for, pointlessly, for 6 months. Thus, a fitness regimen was born.
Today, I'm up to a minimum daily steps goal of 15,000, which works out to about 6.7 miles per day. I concentrate on getting at least those steps through a combination of regular activity and gym time, but have been setting monthly mileage goals for myself since June. Last month, I hit my goal of 200 miles. This month, I'm on pace to meet my goal of 223.2 miles. I'm also on my way to a total of 2 million miles since I first started wearing Jiminy, having hit 1.5 million as of June 22nd.
It's hard to know what the main source was of my sudden commitment to losing weight when I finally got in the saddle for battle in late March. Certainly, I was tired of being tired and I had something to prove, but this handy little tool gave me the edge I needed to go for it. I know I'm the one to put in all those steps, all that thought for preparing healthy meals, and all that time in the gym, but I doubt I would have had nearly the success I've had without my little VivoFit companion. Sure, it gets annoying when the red bar of arrows fills up completely and I'm in a place where I really can't do anything about it, but it's great to have an accountability system for myself. I love having the excuse of getting up to walk around several times during the day. I love surprising myself every day when I surpass my steps goal, even though it seems so unattainable when I first get up in the morning. I love seeing the old adage that every step adds up, play out before my eyes.
There's really no big huzzah note to end on here. I just wanted to take a little time and celebrate my external conscience, Jiminy, for the difference he has made in my life. Mad love for VivoFit!